1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pet toys appropriate for birds and small animals formed from treated plastic pipe, tubes, and the like, their method of manufacture and system for their manufacture.
2. Prior Art
Pet toys and perches, particularly for large and small birds, have traditionally been formed from wood and leather as mainstay materials. Wood and leather are safe materials for such uses as they are non-toxic, esthetically pleasing, have surface textures that facilitates gripping by a pet, particularly a bird, and can be easily handled by the pet owner, even when wet. Recently plastic tubing and/or plastic rods have come to be used as materials for the fabrication of pet toys, that use both as flexible and rigid tubing, or are formed as castings. While a use of plastic materials has certain advantages for use in a of pet toys such as: plastic materials are easy to obtain, are inexpensive; and are comparatively easy to work with. Plastic materials also provide advantages to a toy purchaser in that: the toy has a comparatively long useful life; is easy to clean, is lighter in weight than wood or leather; and is generally non-toxic to a pet. While, plastic tubing and/or plastic rods are available in many colors, and while such plastic tubing and/or plastic rods are hard, flat, and have smooth surfaces that may be attractive to pet owners, pets and pet handlers, when such toy surface is wet, a pet may find that surfaces difficult to negotiate and slippery. Also, of course, such flat, shiny and smooth toy surface does not look like a natural material, such as a tree branch, nor will such provide a good gripping surface for the pet, particularly a bird. While a use of plastic tubing and/or plastic rods clearly provide ease of manufacturing and economic benefits, prior to the invention, a toy manufactured from such material presented an unacceptable gripping surface to a pet, particularly a bird, thereby making its use for bird toys, unacceptable. The present invention, however, overcomes the toy appearance and lack of roughened surface problems by grooving, in a random manner, the plastic pipe and/or tube outer surface and roughening that outer surface by a heat treatment. This treatment can be performed using both manual methods and in an automated system, producing pet toys that have both a firming gripping outer surface and present a wood-like appearance that is pleasing to both the pet and the pet owner.
As set out above, pet toys as are in common use have, in the past, generally been manufactured from wood or leather, and more recently, some toys have been formed from plastic materials. Further, a recent U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,455, to LaFeber, III, sets out a use of molded paper pulp. Toys made from such paper pulp are non-toxic and can be dyed with a non-toxic ink to present a desired appearance. Such paper pulp toys, like the invention, can present a surface texture to both simulate a natural material, such as wood, and to provide a gripping surface to the pet. However, they do not involve a use of a like material, manufacturing procedures or system of manufacture, that are like those of the invention.